Nearing the end of the season, the Los Angeles Gladiators face the only team they’ve yet to play in the North American region, the Florida Mayhem. This was a week for LA to rebound, but their efforts come up short against another well-oiled machine that left no room for mistakes.
Reviewing Week 26
Florida Mayhem: 14-6
Mirror on Tank was quickly scrapped, as Space returned to play on the flex tank position permanently. While the team did perform better as a result, overall, the Florida Mayhem were certainly no pushovers, and it showed from the very start.
Here is how the game went down:
Map 1 – Lijiang Tower
Round 1 was a round where the Glads made some costly mistakes early on, where lone wolves fell early to the Florida mob to make things more challenging for them. They fortunately got it together and once they did, there was no stopping them, even down 82%. What made the difference on this round was OGE playing as Wrecking Ball, knocking Mayhem players over the ledge. Another big factor was Mirror as Genji saving his Dragon Blade until the very end.
Round 2 was when we saw the unorthodox pairing of Junkrat and Symmetra for both teams. This was mostly a one-sided affair in favor of Florida. Mirror was able to help the Glads take the point back a couple of times, but they could not keep it for long.
Round 3. The garden portion of Lijiang is home to many a comeback, and today was no different. The Mayhem were just about to win thanks to the showings of Fate as Orisa and Gangnamjim as Lucio. OGE switches to Wrecking Ball again and it makes a difference to take back control of the point once more.
Map 4 – Hanamura
This was a nail-biter of a map where the Glads fall just short of winning. Both teams brought the offense when needed, and while the Gladiators played well, they were stopped short of scoring their sixth point, which Florida secured easily. LA was once again racing the clock, as they took more time than Florida to score.
This was a winnable map for LA, but it just did not bounce in their favor. However, this was a map where I felt like they were more motivated as were running out of time. This strategy really isn’t ideal when you only have time to make one play before the round expires. Mayhem wins the map 6-5 and the game 3-1.
Player of the Match: BigGoose
Previewing Week 27
The “Countdown Cup” begins this weekend with LA facing off against the Toronto Defiant. The two teams faced one another on May 3rd, with the Gladiators prevailing 3-1.
Toronto Defiant: 8-12
Since their last match, the Defiant signed tank player Numlocked. Numlocked played for the Los Angeles Valiant in 2018 and recently joined Toronto from the Montreal Rebelllion contenders team to address their main tank issues. Toronto also added damage player Zykk to flesh out their DPS rotation. He previously played for the now-hiatus Contenders team Third Impact.
This should be another good match, and the Gladiators should be more than capable of winning this one. With only a few weeks before the end of the season, they really should leave no room for error here.
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